Principal investigator: Bruce Simons-Morton, Ed.D., M.P.H.
This study tested the efficacy of a multi-component intervention for preventing multiple problem behaviors, including substance use, aggression, and misconduct. Seven middle schools in one school district were randomized to intervention or comparison groups and two cohorts of students were assessed at the beginning of middle school and at the end of 6th, 7th, 8th, and beginning of 9th grades. The intervention, called Going Places, consisted of a skills-oriented curriculum, school-wide intervention, and parent education. The evaluation of treatment group effects indicated that the program had significant effects on smoking progression, outcome expectations for smoking, and friends who smoked, but not on drinking, aggression, or misconduct. The effect on smoking progression was mediated by friends who smoked, indicating that the growth in friends who smoked was less among those in the intervention schools than those in the control schools. In a series of observational analyses, researchers found that parenting behaviors were protective against substance use, and that selection was at least as important as socialization in the progression of substance use. Analyses of this longitudinal dataset are ongoing.
 
DESPR Collaborators

· Denise L. Haynie, Ph.D., M.P.H.

Selected Publications

Rath JM, Gielen AC, Haynie DL, Solomon BS, Cheng TL, & Simons-Morton BG. (In press). Factors associated with perceived parental academic monitoring in a population of low-income, African American early adolescents. Research in Middle Level Education.

Chen R & Simons-Morton BG. (In press). Concurrent changes in conduct problems and depressive symptoms in early adolescents: A developmental person-centered approach. Development and Psychopathology.

Simons-Morton BG & Chen R. (In press). Peer and parent influences on school engagement among early adolescents. Youth and Society.

Simons-Morton BG, Chen R, Hand L, & Haynie D. (2008). Parenting behavior and adolescent conduct problems: reciprocal and mediational effects. Journal of School Violence. 7(1):3-25.

Simons-Morton BG. (2007). Social influences on adolescent substance use. American Journal of Health Behavior, 31(6):672-684. [Abstract]

Simons-Morton BG & Chen, R. (2006). Over time relationships between early adolescent and peer substance use. Addictive Behavior, 31, 1211-1223. [Abstract]

Simons-Morton BG & Chen R. (2005). Latent growth curve analyses of parent influences on drinking progression among early adolescents. Journal of Studies on Alcohol, 66(1):5-13. [Abstract]

Ando M, Asakura T, & Simons-Morton BG. (2005). Psychosocial influences on physical, verbal, and indirect bullying among Japanese early adolescents. Journal of Early Adolescence, 253:268-297.

Abroms L, Simons-Morton BG, Haynie D, & Chen, R. (2005). Psychosocial predictors of smoking trajectories during middle and high school. Addiction, 100:852-861. [Abstract]

Simons-Morton BG, Haynie D, Saylor K, Crump AD, & Chen R. (2005). The effects of the Going Places Program on early adolescent substance use and anti-social behavior. Prevention Science, 5(2):101-111. [Abstract]

Simons-Morton BG, Haynie D, Saylor K, Crump AD, & Chen R. (2005). Impact analysis and mediation of outcomes: The Going Places program. Health Educ Behav, 32(2):227-241. [Abstract]

Simons-Morton BG, Hartos J, & Haynie DL. (2004). Prospective analyses of peer and parent influences on minor aggression among early adolescents. Health Education and Behavior, 31(1):22-33. [Abstract]

Simons-Morton BG, Chen R, Abroms R, & Haynie DL. (2004). Latent growth curve analyses of peer and parent influences on smoking progression among early adolescents. Health Psychology, 23(6):612-621. [Abstract]

Simons-Morton BG. (2004). Prospective association of peer influence, school engagement, drinking expectancies, and parent expectations with drinking initiation among sixth graders. Addictive Behaviors, 29(2):299-309. [Abstract]

Simons-Morton BG. (2004). The protective effect of parental expectations against early adolescent smoking initiation. Health Education Research, 19:561-569. [Abstract]

Simons-Morton BG & Crump AD. (2003). Association of parental involvement and social competence with school adjustment and engagement among sixth graders. Journal of School Health, 73(3):121-126. [Abstract]

Nansel TR, Haynie DL, & Simons-Morton BG. (2003). The association of bullying and victimization with middle school adjustment. Journal of Applied School Psychology, 19(2):45-61.

Simons-Morton BG & Haynie DL. (2003). Psychosocial predictors of increased smoking stage among sixth graders. American Journal of Health Behavior, 27(6):592-602. [Abstract]

Nansel TR, Haynie DL, & Simons-Morton BG. (2003). The Association of Bullying and Victimization With Middle School Adjustment. In MJ Elias and JE Zins (Eds.), Bullying, Peer Harassment, and Victimization in the Schools: The Next Generation of Prevention, (pp.45-61). New York: The Haworth Press, Inc.

Simons-Morton BG. (2002). Prospective analysis of peer and parent influences on smoking initiation among early adolescents. Prevention Science, 3(4):275-283. [Abstract]

Simons-Morton BG & Haynie D. (2002). Growing Up Drug Free: A Developmental Challenge. In MH Bornstein, L Davidson, CLM Keyes, KA Moore & The Center for Child Well-being (Eds.), Well-being: Positive Development Across the Life Course, (pp.109-122). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.